CWAI continued, “The most disappointing aspect of this ruling is that many pro-family groups and Christian voters continue to hope the judicial or legislative branches will fix the problem when we, the people have failed to honestly stand on the principles of God which gave our Forefathers direction, protection and great wisdom. Until we rightly handle these issues in God's house, we will continue to fail in the court house, the state house, and the school house. George Washington warned us it would be impossible to rightly govern without the Bible, [and] until we repent and return to those same principles, we will fail to properly govern and succeed as a nation.”

On 6 April 2009, UCC pastor the Rev. David Runnion-Bareford, Executive Director of Biblical Witness Fellowship, The Confessing Movement in the UCC, and President of the Association for Church Renewal issued a statement to pastors, churches, and Christians in Iowa saying, “I apologize with a broken heart for our denominational officials and other proponents of faux Christian religion who have publicly advocated and applauded the attempt of your court to redefine marriage. This is an ancient idolatry in new skin. We know that the ordinance of marriage between one man and one woman is imbedded in natural law and the natural moral order by the sovereign word of the creator God…Marriage for all of us, regardless of belief, is the primary covenant in which all other human covenants, laws, and governments are grounded. When courts, governments, or religious bodies make decrees to change the character and definition of marriage, nothing is changed other than the state of their own legitimacy. To decree some other form of relationship a marriage, does not make it so in the only court before which each of us will ultimately stand…”

Bloomfield College celebrated 30 March – 4 April 2009 its annual Out & Proud Week, which celebrates the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Events included a film showing, a roundtable discussion about religion and homosexuality, and a professional theatre company presentation of the play “Avow.”

The Presbyterian Foundation has laid off thirteen full-time and one part-time employee, and has closed six of its sixteen regional offices in order to reduce payroll expenses and to better manage its budgets during the global financial crisis.

Eastern Michigan University (EMU) student Julea Ward was suspended 12 March 2009 from the EMU counseling program after she refused EMU’s directive to affirm the homosexual lifestyle of a counselee.

Ward had followed her supervising professor’s advice to have the counselee referred to another counselor who did not have a conscience issue with the very matter to be discussed in counseling, but was instead called into a hearing where EMU faculty denigrated Ward’s Christian views and asked several inappropriate and intrusive questions about Ward’s religious beliefs, then dismissed Ward from the counseling program.Ward appealed the decision to the dean of the College of Education, who upheld the dismissal on 26 March 2009.

Parents are encouraged to call their children's middle schools and high schools to ask whether the administration and teachers will permit students to remain silent during class on the Day of Silence. If so, parents can express their opposition by calling their children out of school on that day and sending letters of explanation to their administrators, their children's teachers, and school board members.

Missouri officials quickly apologized and removed the specious allegations about third-party political group supporters from the report after the report was widely publicized.+ The Washington Times, 3600 New York Avenue Northeast, Washington DC 20002, 202-636-3205

Featured speakers are Dr. Cornelis Venema, who will speak on the topics of Calvin's Life and Legacy and The Twofold Grace of God, and Professor Alan Strange of Mid-America Reformed Seminary who will speak on the topics of Calvinism and The Westminster Assembly, Calvinism and Jonathan Edwards, Calvinism and Charles Hodge, and Calvinism and J. Gresham Machen.

The eight-year project to digitize Old Parish Records (OPRs) of the Church of Scotland has been completed, and now death and burial records are available in addition to the birth, baptism, banns and marriage records already available via www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk. OPRs are the records kept by the Church of Scotland for the 300 years before the start of the civil registration system in 1855.

Brigham Young University (BYU) officials on 6 April 2009 pulled 18,000 copies of the student newspaper The Daily Universe off the school newsstands after finding the caption under a picture of the Mormon leadership council read “Quorum of the Twelve Apostates” instead of the correct title for the group “Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.”A BYU spokesman explained that the problem was caused by when an editor using a computer spell-checker choose a wrong replacement word precipitated by a misspelling of “Apostles.”

Later in the day, 10,000 The Daily Universenewspapers with a corrected caption were delivered to the BYU newsstands.